H.S. ice hockey: Ramsey earns third straight trip to semifinals

WAYNE – As the season whittles down to a precious few games and the opportunity for a state title gets closer to reality, thinking about the possibilities is not something you want to see your team doing.

What you look for is the quick start, taking advantage of early chances to take control of the game. Ramsey did just that Monday night at the Ice Vault, scoring twice in the first six minutes.

Those goals put all the pressure on Roxbury and the Gaels were unable to overcome the deficit. The Rams will now move into the Public B semifinals after a 6-1 win, their third straight trip to the Final Four and fifth in seven years. They will take on Mendham, a 5-3 winner over Glen Rock, at Mennen Arena on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

"Our whole season is Thursday," Ramsey coach Bob Toy said. "It’s not about the past, it’s not about the future; it’s all about Thursday."

For players such as Connor DiTomaso and Alex Whelan, it represents the opportunity to put back-to-back semifinal losses to Summit and Chatham behind them.

"We have to remember the feeling we had the last two years, and you just don’t want to have that feeling again," DiTomaso said. "We have to work that much harder now. As a senior, I don’t want this to be my last game."

Whelan, a junior, echoed those sentiments, saying, "We have to remember to play our game. From goaltending to defense to offense; that’s how we play and we have to keep doing it. It all starts with good defense. We just have to play Ramsey hockey."

The opening period started slowly until Roxbury took the lone penalty of the stanza. The Rams (27-2) took advantage of the power play, scoring at 4:49. Anthony Pedulla took a shot from the left point that Frank Steffe redirected home near the left post.

Just over a minute later, Whelan scored his 40th goal of the season, coming across the crease and beating Gael netminder Brian Hartmann inside the right post.

"It was the end of the shift and [DiTomaso] chipped the puck over to me near the blue line," Whelan said. "It was a 1 on 2, so I just shot for the far side."

DiTomaso made it 3-0 1:28 into the second on another power play (the only other penalty in the game), finishing off a Jim Hunt shot from the point. It bounced off the goalie’s shoulder and sat at the goal line before DiTomaso touched it home.

Roxbury (11-9-2) scored on a Brett Lloyd tally at 7:48 but that didn’t faze the Rams, who came back just over a minute later with two goals in 19 seconds.

Whelan got the first one, shoving the puck past Hartmann near the left post. Hunt scored the latter goal, a slap shot from in front, and Ramsey was well on its way. Jack Jordan got the lone goal of the third period for the Rams, who are scoring in bunches now.

"You always want to be playing your best hockey in late February and March, and I think we’re almost there," Toy said. "We still have some room for improvement, but right now we’re getting scoring from all three lines and the blue liners. That’s what you want to see at this time of the year.

"We got the two power-play goals, and we scored early. Those are the kind of things that can make the difference in games. Hopefully, that keeps up."